GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services has announced a new pediatric behavioral health center is coming to Grand Rapids. The center will help address the need for mental health services for children and teenagers.
The center will be built with $38 million in funding from the 2023 state budget, which was signed Wednesday by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. An additional $24 million will be raised by Pine Rest to fund the project with $62 million total.
Called the Pediatric Behavioral Health Center of Excellence, the facility will expand the services offered to children and increase patient capacity. Pine Rest officials say this is crucial, as studies found 38% of Michiganders suffering from mental health issues were not receiving treatment.
“We want our kids to live purposeful and joy filled lives,” said Dr. Mark Eastburg, president and CEO of Pine Rest. “We want them to flourish, along with the families, schools and communities that support them. Mental health problems and the chronic shortage of services made worse by the pandemic have been robbing our kids of the joy we all want for them. The Pediatric Behavioral Health Center of Excellence will help our community and state become a place where none of our kids will have to wait weeks or months for world class mental health care.”
Some of the changes offered through the facility include the following:
- Psychiatric inpatient bed expansion from 36 to 88
- Addition of a pediatric psychiatric urgent care center
- Psychiatric residential treatment facility for autistic spectrum disorder and developmentally disabled children
- Expanded outpatient services
The addition of the Pediatric Behavioral Heath Center of Excellence was created in part through a collaboration with the Helen DeVos Children's Hospital. The new facility will be built on Pine Rest's 220-acre campus in Grand Rapids.
For more information about the center and its new services, click here.
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